THIS WEEKEND Box
office records of all kinds were demolished by the wildly anticipated franchise
closer Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part
2 which generated the biggest opening in Hollywood history.
The eighth and final chapter in the decade-long fantasy series opened to
an eye-popping $169.2M from North America, according to final
studio figures, plus an additional $312.3M from overseas markets
which began running the film on Wednesday leading to a scorching worldwide
launch of $481.6M. All three figures broke the all-time records beating
The Dark Knight's $158.4M domestic
opening weekend in July 2008, Pirates of the Caribbean:
On Stranger Tides' $260.4M international bow this past May,
and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince's
$394M global debut in July 2009.

Domestically, the new Potter also
smashed records for the best ever midnight launch with $43.5M on late Thursday
night including 3:00am shows that many theaters added, and a colossal $91.1M
opening day including those midnights. The previous records were held by
the Twilight franchise with last summer's
Eclipse having a $30M midnight bow
and 2009's New Moon posting a $72.7M
first day. Like a boxer unifying multiple titles, Harry
Potter pulled off a remarkable feat setting new box office records
in five major categories.

The new Potter installment opened
ultrawide in 4,375 theaters - including a record 274 IMAX venues - and
was the first in the franchise to be presented in 3D which helped to boost
the grosses. As with most action epics, North American moviegoers were
less interested in the 3D conversion as 43% of the weekend gross came from
the extra-dimensional screens while overseas the rate was much higher at
60%. The domestic per-theater average stood at a sturdy $38,672.

The concluding chapter's opening weekend was a healthy 35% bigger than
the $125M bow last November of Part 1
which was in 2D and went on to finish with $295M. The first seven Potter
films have grossed a sizzling $6.36 billion worldwide and the franchise
now sits at $6.85 billion with the launch of the final saga. The series
will shatter the $7 billion mark in a matter of days.

Critics and audiences both loved the new Deathly
Hallows. Reviews were not only among the best for the series,
but also rank as among the most positive for any wide release this year.
Warner Bros. will be hoping that the regular Oscar attention it receives
for the wizard franchise will this time go beyond the technical categories
and into other areas including Best Picture. Moviegoers polled by CinemaScore
gave the PG-13 pic an overall A grade. This does not necessarily mean the
film will have legs as Potter pics
are always heavily front-loaded with this one being even more so.

The historic frame began with the stunning $91.1M Friday which included
the intense demand from fans to see right away how the saga ends on the
big screen. Saturday sales crumbled by a very high 53% to $42.4M which
did not come close to breaking the record for the largest Saturday. Spider-Man
3 still holds that distinction with $51.3M from May 2007. The
studio saw a slim 16% dip on Sunday to $35.8M. With such upfront demand,
Friday accounted for a whopping 54% of the three-day gross.

IMAX also broke domestic and global records with the new Hallows.
Fans spent $15.5M from the North American sites beating the $12.2M of last
year's Alice in Wonderland and $23.5M
from 394 screens worldwide beating the most recent Transformers
which did $20.4M. The previous recordholders were also in 3D.

Being a global phenomenon, it was no surprise that grosses around the
world were sensational for Harry's last stand with nearly a half-billion
dollars collected in just five days. The jaw-dropping $312.3M overseas
debut came from 20,000 screens across 59 countries with China still to
come on August 4. Leading the way this weekend (with different numbers
of days depending on local launches) were the United Kingdom with $37.8M,
Australia with $27.1M, Germany with $26M, France with $24.5M, and Japan
with $21.9M. Like in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia set all-time opening
weekend records too.

Despite rising ticket prices over the years, the first film Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's
Stone overseas) still holds the series records for total domestic
and worldwide grosses with $317.6M and $970M, respectively. Those could
crumble too as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Part 2 may find its way north of $325M from North America and
$1 billion globally.

Get daily Harry
Potter box office updates and analysis all
week by following BoxOfficeGuru.com on Twitter.

Michael Bay took a hit by the teen wizard as his latest action juggernaut
Transformers: Dark of the Moon fell
55% in its third frame to $21.3M. But the latest Autobots film burst through
the triple century mark finishing the weekend at $302.9M. Declines for
previous chapters when a new Potter
debuted were lower with 48% in 2007 and 44% in 2009. However, both of those
Hogwarts films debuted on a Wednesday diluting the weekend figures. With
both new chapters of Transformers and
Harry Potter being in 3D, the fight
for those special screens also played into this weekend's showdown.

With rival summer action films Captain America:
The First Avenger, Cowboys & Aliens,
and Rise of the Planet of the Apes
opening over each of the next three weekends, more large declines are likely
in the weeks ahead putting Dark of the Moon
on course to finish with about $360M domestically. Overseas, Transformers
felt the heat of Hogwarts too with the weekend take falling 58% to an estimated
$39M. With the international cume now up to $460M - a new high for the
franchise thanks in part to 3D prices - the global tally surged to a stunning
$762.9M with China and Japan still to open. Korea has led all overseas
markets with $61.6M to date.

The Warner Bros. comedy Horrible Bosses
held up quite well in its second weekend grossing $17.8M for a relatively
low 37% decline. The R-rated workplace pic has banked an impressive $60.1M
in just ten days and could end up breaking the $100M mark. Fellow sophomore
comedy Zookeeper fared well too dipping
only 39% to $12.3M. Sony has taken in $42.4M in ten days with the expensive
Kevin James project and could be on the way to around $75M.

A pair of G-rated toons from Disney followed. The Pixar sequel Cars
2 fell 45% to $8.4M for a $165.4M sum to date. By comparison,
the first Cars enjoyed a $14.6M gross
in its fourth lap. Breaking $200M may be a tough mission to accomplish
for Mater and pals who may end closer to the $190M mark. The Mouse House
saw a soft debut for its well-reviewed animated tale Winnie
the Pooh which debuted to $7.9M from 2,405 locations for a mild
$3,267 average.

The Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher
dropped 42% to $5.2M giving Sony a solid $88.5M to date. Diaz's My
Best Friend's Wedding co-star Julia Roberts, who is also on
screen now as a bad teacher, followed with the Tom Hanks film Larry
Crowne which suffered another steep fall sliding 55% to $2.7M.
Universal has collected a mere $31.7M to date.

Rounding out the top ten with grosses of $2M and $1.9M, respectively,
were the sci-fi drama Super 8 and the
Woody Allen comedy Midnight in Paris.
The Paramount actioner tumbled 59% with Potter's
arrival putting the cume at $122.3M. The Sony Classics release dipped only
29% and has taken in $41.8M so far making it the veteran director's all-time
top-grossing film passing the $40.1M of 1986's Hannah
and Her Sisters. Of course, Hannah
and films like Annie Hall and Manhattan
all sold a much larger amount of tickets.

New domestic totals for top summer grossers outside the top ten include
$251.9M for The Hangover Part II, $237.4M
for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,
$209.1M for Fast Five, $179.5M for
Thor, $161.3M for Bridesmaids,
$160.1M for Kung Fu Panda 2, $143.5M
for X-Men: First Class, $112.8M for
Green Lantern.

The top ten films grossed $248.6M which was up a potent 47% from last
year when Inception opened in the top
spot with $62.8M; and up a huge 65% from 2009 when Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince debuted at number one with
$77.8M over the weekend and $158M over five days.

Compared to projections, Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows Part 2 debuted well above my $147M forecast
while Winnie the Pooh came in below
my $10M prediction.

Get earlier box office updates and analysis by following BoxOfficeGuru.com
on Twitter.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of
the author.